


A Dream Come True

by Sweets_Thief



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, BenArmie AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-13
Updated: 2017-05-13
Packaged: 2018-10-31 04:17:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10891533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sweets_Thief/pseuds/Sweets_Thief
Summary: Armitage Hux gives up on finding his soulmate and goes to get his tattoo covered up so he can finally move on. Fate seems to have other ideas.





	A Dream Come True

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LadyP15](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyP15/gifts).



> ooh I'm finally getting through these quicker :L another gift for [ dressesandcarresses](https://dressesandcarresses.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr!!
> 
> The prompt was "Benarmie modern day AU: Armitage thinks their soulmate is in another country because they haven’t found each other and starts to travel the world to find them. After 1 year Armitage is home again and very sad and makes an appointment to cover their soulmate tattoo because theyve given up.  
> When the tattoo artist enters and wants to start covering the tattoo Person A sees that it’s complete and when they look up they see Person B. Their soulmate.  
> so basically Person B is Kylo the tattoo artist."
> 
> I hope this is okay for you!!!

 

 

As a child, Armitage had been enamoured with his soulmate tattoo. It was a Scarab beetle, a rare form for a soulmate tattoo his mother said. It was a mixture of greens and blues and golds and had held Armitage’s attention for hours. During school he would hide its position on his wrist carefully with long jumpers and wristbands, not wanting anyone else to see it. It was his alone. As he had grown older Armitage had begun to dream about what his soulmate was going to be like. It became his dream to find his soulmate and settle down in a life with them, whoever they were.

High school came and went. Armitage graduated with perfect marks, made close friends and even more enemies. College followed, where he again graduated with top marks and University followed. He left with a degree in Combined English Language and Literature, with new dreams of becoming a writer and a small part of his brain worried he hadn’t yet caught sight of his soulmate.

Still, he was determined that life was going to perfect.

And as life usually does, it turned Armitage’s world upside down.

Brendol Hux Snr died and in her grieving state, Armitage’s mother had revealed that they were not soulmates, and had merely settled together because neither believed their soulmates existed. She had told him this, and then taken everything Brendol had left and moved away, leaving a confused, and grief stricken Armitage and brother Techie with nothing.

As such, Armitage’s dreams were put on hold, and he had to get the first job he could to support himself now his main financial support was gone. It was hard, and he had fallen into depression, and it seemed the only thing that got him by was staring at his soulmate tattoo and thinking that somewhere, out there, there was a person who would connect perfectly with him. Techie, who hadn’t been as close to their parents, had been his rock during these times, and he had come to Armitage with an idea. Armitage remembered the conversation well. It had taken place at three in the morning, and he had been sitting in his tiny apartment wearing Star Wars pyjamas that he didn’t remember buying and eating a tub of ice cream. And Techie had called and injected a well needed boost into Armitage’s life.

Brendol Hux Jnr, aka Techie, was a genius like his brother and was brilliant with computers, but he had a terrible anxiety when it came to people, which Armitage did not. Therefore, he decided they were the best combination to begin a company, and they did, setting up Hux Security Corp. easily enough, with Armitage the face of the company and Techie the brains behind the technology. It took off and they soon became just as financially stable as when Brendol Snr had been alive.

Armitage’s dreams were rekindled, but he had become bitter about the idea of having a soulmate. Still, he decided to give himself one last chance to find them. He told Techie he was going travelling, for however long it took, around the world to see if he could find them. If he didn’t then he would give up on that dream and focus on their work. The company was stable enough, and Techie had support in the form of his own soulmate – not that Armitage was jealous or bitter about that, his brother deserved happiness.

With nothing but a rucksack of clothes, his passport, cash and his credit card, Armitage had left Ireland and travelled wherever his feet took him. Deciding that at twenty-nine this was the last change he was going to give himself to find his soulmate before he allowed himself to face the decade of loneliness doomed to know he didn’t have a soulmate, Armitage promised he’d keep in touch, and left.

\--

Armitage jumped when a hand landed on his shoulder. It was the air stewardess, waking him to prepare him for the landing of the plane. Stretching and rolling his neck to get the stiffness out of it, Armitage sat up properly and looked out of the window. Ireland was stretching out beneath him, beautiful and familiar and a welcomed sight after a year of non-stop travelling.

His laptop sat on his knee, still open in the latest review Armitage had been writing. During his travels he had begun a blog writing reviews of different cities and writing guides for people thinking of going there. It had blown up to become hugely popular, thanks in no small part to a new article that had run back in Ireland that Techie had emailed him a copy of. Since Armitage was a well-known businessman, many of the business orientated papers had posted stories about his travels, and linked to the blog. Thanks to that, Armitage had several job offers waiting for him with travel agencies to write official guides and reviews for them, part time along with his job in Hux Security Corp.

He was however, bitter about love after his travels. Armitage had seen so many people who had found their soulmates, who gleefully showed him their completed tattoos, and told him about how great their lives were. His soulmate had not materialised out of the woodwork, and Armitage was convinced now he did not have a soulmate.

Leaving the plane as soon as the doors opened, Armitage pulled out his phone and turned it off airplane mode. Five text messages and a missed call came through immediately and Hux rolled his eyes. Techie was too anxious to fly, and was scared of Armitage doing so, and although he knew his brother couldn’t reply, he always text him to make sure he was okay. Replying to them first, Armitage meandered over to security, passport out as he texted Techie one-handed. The guard wasn’t impressed that he wasn’t paying attention, but Armitage paid him no mind as he followed the crowd towards the baggage claim area. There was a sign flashing up that the wait was going to be approximately fifteen minutes but there were likely to be delays due to the number of flights landing.

Armitage rolled his eyes and dialled Phasma’s number. His best friend since high school, the missed call was from her, and it reminded Armitage that he had not actually told her he was coming home.

“ _Hey Armie, where are you calling from this time?”_

Smiling at the fact she answered almost immediately, Armitage replied, “From Ireland.”

“ _You’re home! And you didn’t tell me!”_

“Relax, I only just got home.” Armitage chuckled, “I got a little homesick.”

“ _Missing little Techie, huh?”_ Phasma teased, though there was a hint of compassion in her voice because she knew the hardest part of the trip for him had been being away from his brother. “ _Or just sick of seeing people happy?”_

“There were a lot of people showing off their soulmates to me when I told them why I was travelling.” Armitage admitted, “But I’m over that.”

Phasma was silent for a moment. “ _Are you sure, Armie? You’ve been dreaming of meeting your soulmate since you were a child?”_

Armitage shrugged, not caring that Phasma couldn’t see him. There was a blaring alarm for a moment warning them that the bags were about to start being dispensed, so he moved closer to the carousel before responding.  
“I don’t think they’re out there. The story always goes that soulmates are drawn together, even when they live in other countries. Maybe I’m just destined to not have a soulmate.”

“ _But every time you look at your wrist Armie, you’re going to be reminded of them.”_ Phasma replied quietly, “ _Could you live like that?”_

He didn’t reply. Phasma knew his answer, had known his answer before she’d even asked the question, and yet he couldn’t put it into words. People were gathering their bags and leaving towards Immigration now, but Armitage’s was yet to appear.

“ _I think I know someone who can help.”_ Phasma continued eventually, “ _He’s a tattoo artist, I’ve been to him a few times for my more complicated pieces. He’s good, does a lot of coverups, he’s always telling me.”_

“A coverup?” Armitage repeated. He glanced down at his wrist, at the golden, blue and green colours splashed there in the form of half a Scarab beetle, forever tinged red at the edges from the non-existent other half. “I don’t know…”

“ _Look, I’m due to go in for a consultation soon, let me set you up an appointment and if you chicken out, he’ll be cool with that. His name is Ben Solo, I’ll text you the address.”_

Armitage didn’t have time to argue, as his bag appeared and he moved forward to grab it. “Alright, well I’ve got to go so I can get home. Text me the details, I’ll think about it.” He agreed quietly.

Phasma said something cheery and hung up the call, leaving Armitage to traipse through the last part of the airport and out to the taxi rank. It didn’t take long for him to get a taxi, and since it was early evening the traffic from rush hour had died down enough for him to get home within an hour and a half of landing.

Techie was waiting for him inside the flat, curled up on the couch with a laptop next to him, rubbing his tired eyes. As soon as the door opened and Armitage stepped in, he launched himself off the couch and into his brother’s arms.

“Hello to you too, Techie.” Armitage mumbled, burying his face in the familiar and homely scent that was his brother.

“I missed you.” Techie breathed, “Did you have fun?”

“Mm. I missed you too. Let me sort my washing out, and I’ll fill you in on all the details.” Armitage requested, allowing Techie to wrap his legs around his waist and be carried through the flat to the utility room. It felt comforting to carry his brother like this. They had always done so, whenever Techie was upset or stressed or tired, and Armitage never minded. His brother was always a soothing weight to bear.

Locking the door to his flat, Armitage threw his phone on the couch as it buzzed with the details of the tattoo parlour, and a promise from Phasma of a time and date within the next forty-eight hours.

He ignored it.

\--

Three days passed, and Armitage had come up with a perfectly logical argument for having his soulmate tattoo covered up. Despite that, it took him a while to get up his nerve, meaning he missed his actual appointment and ended up arriving at the tattoo parlour at five to nine, and it closed at nine.

A small bell rang when he opened the door, and he heard movement from a back room.

“We’re closing, if you want a tattoo you’re going to have to come back tomorrow!” A voice shouted.

 _Ben Solo then,_ Armitage thought, ignoring the strange feeling that shot through him at the sound of the man’s voice. He had an American accent, but there was a slight lilt to it from evidently living in Ireland for so long.

“Oh I…had an appointment and I missed it.” He called back, his tone a lot more sheepish than he intended.

Silence followed, broken only by the sound of what Armitage assumed was Ben tidying up the tattoo room for the day.

“Armie right?” He eventually called back, “Phasma’s friend?”

Bristling at the use of his nickname – really, he didn’t even like it when Phasma used it – Armitage replied in a cold voice, “It’s Armitage.”

“Armitage, right.” The noises from the back room stopped and Armitage heard a few footsteps and running water. “Well, I’ve not got anywhere to go tonight, so I suppose I could squeeze a consultation in.”

“Thank y-.”

The words died in his throat when Ben Solo appeared. He was a young man around Armitage’s age, if not younger, with long black hair pulled haphazardly into a bun, brown eyes, lightly tattooed arms, and a charming, if somewhat lopsided smile. His shirt was black and read “Wake Up Cooler, Sleep With A Tattooer”, that normally would have caused Armitage a little discomfort, but he was too distracted by the sudden burn on his wrist.

Glancing down at the Scarab beetle tattoo there, Armitage’s heart nearly stopped. Slowly, the outline of the Scarab was becoming complete, lines appearing on Armitage’s skin before his very eyes and completing the tattoo. Reds, blacks and golds dyed his skin, both clashing and complimenting the colours of Armitage’s half of the tattoo, and when the tattoo was finally filled, it was a beautiful if somewhat hectic representation of such a beetle.

Armitage’s head snapped up to look at Ben, who was clutching his own wrist and staring wide eyed at it. On his wrist was a perfect mirror image of the Scarab on Armitage’s wrist. There had been a tattoo partially covering it, but with the completion of the Scarab that tattoo had faded to show Ben that…he had found his soulmate.

“W…I…I have to go!” Armitage blurted out and he bolted from the shop in a blind panic. He didn’t hear Ben shout his name, or ask him to wait, and he didn’t stop running until his lungs were burning.

Blinking and getting his bearings, Armitage realised he had run home, and he was standing outside his block of flats. The lights were on in his own, indicating Techie was staying with him tonight and not Matt, and Armitage felt comforted by the idea. His mind was racing. After a year of searching and hoping and eventually deciding to move on with his life, his soulmate had turned up here, in the very city he had been born and raised.

And Hux’s reaction had been to run away.

Stomping upstairs to the flat, Armitage didn’t realise he was crying until Techie saw him and exclaimed, “Armitage! What happened?”

“Techie…I…he…the tattoo artist-.” Armitage stammered, unable to form a proper sentence from what he assumed was shock.

“What did he do?” Techie asked, guiding Armitage over to the couch and forcing him down onto it.

“He existed.” Armitage muttered, holding out his wrist for his brother to inspect.

Techie’s shocked gasp just confirmed that the last fifteen minutes had actually happened and Ben Solo, from a tattoo shop within walking distance, was his soulmate. Armitage couldn’t help but sob openly then, from relief or sorrow or shock he wasn’t entirely sure. Arms enveloped him, and he leant into Techie’s embrace willingly.

“Did he deny you?” Techie whispered worriedly.

“No I…ran out when the tattoo completely. I panicked.” Armitage admitted quietly, “I don’t know what to do.”

“We can go back tomorrow if you feel up to it.” Techie suggested calmly, “I can call Matt, we can all go together?”

“No.” Armitage shook his head, “I should probably do this alone.”

Techie didn’t argue, just held his brother until he stopped crying, and forced him to go to bed when he was done. Armitage was too wired to sleep, so instead he went online and found Ben’s shop on google. There was a contact number, and out of guilt for running out of there, Armitage tried calling it. He wasn’t expecting anyone to answer, and when he heard Ben’s voice again he jumped and nearly dropped the phone.

“ _Hello, you’re through to the Solo Tattoo Emporium. We’re closed, so if you call back-.”_

“Ben…it’s Armitage.”

“ _Oh. You couldn’t leave quickly enough before, what do you want?”_

Nervous and a little put off by Ben’s tone, Armitage chose his next words carefully. “I…well our tattoos matched. I was wondering if you wanted to get a coffee?”

Ben sighed audibly. “ _Look, Armitage, you’re probably an okay guy. I think I’ve read your travel blog before, but I don’t believe in this soulmate thing. I’m not about to let a tattoo dictate who I can and can’t fall in love with, and if you’re set your life on this well, I’m sorry.”_

Anger flooded Armitage then, “No, you listen to me!” He snapped. “I have staked my entire life on this. It’s been my life’s dream to meet my soulmate. If you’re a dick, then I’ll accept it and move on and won’t ever seek you out to pressure you into anything, but the least you can do is get a coffee with me!”

Ben had the audacity to laugh, and Armitage was tempted to hang up when he finally said, “ _Alright, coffee sounds fine. Sorry, it’s a bit of a shock to me, so I’m not really in a great mood? I’ve got your number off Phasma, I’ll text you so you’ve got mine, let me know when you’re free.”_

“Thank you.” Armitage murmured, “Um…sorry again about running out. It was a big shock for me too.”

“ _Don’t worry, I could tell.”_ There was warmth in Ben’s tone when he spoke this time, and it took Armitage a moment to realise he was teasing him. “ _I’ll see you soon, Armitage.”_

“Yes. Soon. Thank you, Ben.”

\--

Coffee was a bad idea, Armitage thought when he arrived at the coffee shop a few minutes early. He didn’t even know this man, he could have been a serial killer or a maniac or both...all negative thoughts of Ben fled when Armitage saw him sitting in one of the corners of the shop, two coffees in front of him.

 _He’s early,_ Armitage smiled and approached him, _I’m glad._

“Hello, Ben.” He announced his presence quietly, startling Ben from his phone.

“Is that a Darth Vader shirt?!” He asked, a surprised smile splitting his lips as he took in Armitage’s “Free Throat Hugs” shirt, black jeans and converse. Ben had set a casual dress code over text, and Armitage hadn’t minded the idea either.

“Oh.” Embarrassed, Armitage drew his jacket over it, which he belatedly realised was the Star Wars bomber jacket Techie had got him for Christmas before he had gone travelling. “Yeah…I like Star Wars I guess.”

“Me too.” Ben grinned, “Especially Vader.”

“He’s a bit too overdramatic for me.” Armitage shrugged, “This shirt was a gift off Phasma after I put someone in a choke hold for bullying my brother.”

“Holy shit.” Ben’s eyes widened but his grin stayed in place, “How old were you?”

“I think it was my last year of college?” Armitage guessed, slipping the bomber jacket off and hanging it over the back of the chair. Ben pushed one of the coffees towards him as he spoke, “It still fits me, I’ve not really changed.”

“Impressive. I asked Phasma for your coffee order, I hope you don’t mind.” Ben said, taking a sip from his own.

“You didn’t seem very into the idea when we spoke on the phone.” Armitage said drily, “Why the sudden interest?”

Ben looked a little uncomfortable, staring into his coffee as he tried to decide on an answer, but Armitage waited patiently, not saying anything else so he couldn’t change the subject.

“I…spoke with my mum. I haven’t spoke to her for a while, but I needed some advice about what to do from someone. She…she told me there won’t be anyone out there that understands me like someone who shares my soulmate tattoo.” Ben finally replied, “I don’t really like the idea of letting this predetermined tattoo decide who I’m going to spend the rest of my life with but…well…my dating history isn’t exactly perfect. Why were you so invested?”

“I don’t know. I saw my parents be so close and thought I wanted a person like that.” Armitage answered as casually as he could, “My tattoo was a comfort for me because I knew there was someone else with one out there somewhere. It didn’t help all that much when I learnt my parents weren’t actually soulmates but had settled because they just gave up.”

“Seriously?!” Ben demanded.

Armitage looked up at him, surprised, and nodded slowly.

“That’s the reason I began to hate the idea.” He whispered, “My parents were always fighting and never really got along, and people always said it was because they weren’t soulmates. I hated the whole idea of it because my parents couldn’t be happy because of something they couldn’t change.”

“Huh. That sounds horrible. My mother told me just after my father’s death when she took all his assets and left me and my brother without any money.” Armitage added. “I guess your mother was right though, no one understands you like I do.”

Ben smiled again, genuinely, and nodded. “I suppose. Why don’t we…try and get to know each other?”

“Okay.”

They took turn asking questions, eventually leaving the coffee shop to go for a walk in a local park, both wearing Star Wars shirts and getting looks off people as they walked past, close to each other but with a comfortable distance between. It was an enlightening conversation. Both of them were creative, with Ben an aspiring artist as well as having his tattoo business and Armitage through his writing. They both liked Star Wars, although they didn’t have the same favourite movie. Ben had moved to Ireland over a decade ago during school because he had heard that it was an inspirational place for artists, and Armitage admitted he had had always had a want to travel to America, where Ben was from originally. It turned out they had probably passed each other before in the street, as Ben had lived in that same city since moving to Ireland, but something had kept them apart until that moment when Armitage had come back from travelling.

There were differences between them too, but they complimented each other perfectly. Ben was normally not so punctual, only on first dates because it was rude otherwise. Armitage on the other hand was always early and was completely prepared for any scenario. He freely admitted he liked being in complete control of his life, and that it most likely stemmed from the unstable life following his father’s death. Ben was much happier just going along with things, although he also admitted he had quite a temper and could get extremely emotional sometimes when he felt he had done something wrong.

By the time they had done three circles of the park, the two were talked out and they had begun to hold hands somewhere around the halfway point of their second lap. They both found it incredibly easy to talk to each other, which was helped by the countless things they both had opinions on, and neither wanted it to end when they knew it had to.

“This wasn’t so bad.” Ben murmured, not releasing Armitage’s hand as he pulled him to the entrance of the park, “I should really get to work though. I have afternoon appointments.”

“I want to cancel my consultation.” Armitage joked, “Can we do this again?”

“Definitely.” Ben nodded, “You have my number, we can talk later.”

He lent in and placed a small kiss on Armitage’s cheek. Armitage flushed, turned his head and captured Ben’s lips instead. It was a small kiss, chaste for their first time and a little fumbled, but both of them enjoyed it regardless.

“I’ll talk to you later, Armie.” Ben smirked, finally untangling his fingers from Armitage’s and beginning to head in the direction of his shop.

“Yeah, later.” Armitage agreed. He watched Ben walk away from him, left with the lingering thought that he should listen to Phasma more often.

Not that he would be telling her that.

 _Dreams can come true,_ he thought, glancing once more back towards where Ben had disappeared around a corner, a small smile on his lips. With his heart lighter than it had been in years, Armitage began the slow walk home to inform Techie of everything that had happened and thank him for all his support while he had been finding his feet. Finally, life was coming together.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on [ Tumblr ](http://rannystuffandthings.tumblr.com/)


End file.
